And, indeed, it's a bit of sunshine in all the bad weather news we tend to bring you. For the most part May is usually very deadly when it comes to tornadoes. In 2011, according to the National Weather Service, 178 people died in May. That was the May that saw the EF-5 tornado in Joplin, Mo. In 2010, 7 did. In 2009, 5 Americans perished.

And it all makes sense: Looking at historical data from 1991 to 2010, May has been the most active month of the year for tornadoes. Look at this chart:

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